Report by Chief Executive of Scotland Excel.
1
There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel seeking approval for Scotland Excel’s proposed response to the Scottish Government consultation on the National Care Service (NCS).
The report intimated that in February 2021 the report on the findings of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care had been published and that this report found issues with implementation of social care policy and was critical of current commissioning and procurement activity. Amongst the recommendations, to help drive improvement in the sector, was the establishment of a NCS in Scotland to take over responsibility for the strategic aspects of social care planning and commissioning from local government. Local government would become a care provider alongside the private and voluntary sectors and would be commissioned to deliver services on behalf of the NCS.
The report advised that in August 2021, the Scottish Government published their consultation on the creation of the NCS in Scotland and the proposals within this document were significant and would result in a fundamental change to the role of local government in Scotland if implemented. The scope of services proposed for inclusion in the NCS was far broader than was initially anticipated and included services relating to adult social care, children’s services, community health, addiction, justice and social care in prison.
The report noted that the potential impact on Scotland Excel’s role was significant as the proposed plans included the creation of a new team within the NCS to undertake national commissioning of complex care services including residential services and the National Care Home Contract. This new team would also undertake national market research and analysis activity in relation to social care and would lead on the creation of a new ‘Structures of Standards and Processes’.
At a meeting held on 17 September 2021, the Executive Sub-committee considered the approach to the consultation response and the governance plans relating to the response and decided that a special meeting of the Joint Committee be held to consider the proposed response given the significance of the proposals for local government. Scotland Excel met with the Chief Executive Officers Management Group (CEOMG) to discuss the response and the draft response, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, had been produced for submission to the Scottish Government.
Following discussion, it was proposed (i) that the consultation response be amended to contain further detail in relation to VAT, the last resort provider to strengthen the wording around costs, to emphasise the importance of local commissioning and understanding regional variations, and to highlight that different authorities use Scotland Excel contracts to varying degrees as a result of this local variance and (ii) that it be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Convener, to approve and submit the amended consultation response to the Scottish Government. This was agreed unanimously.
DECIDED:
(a) That the consultation response be amended to contain further detail in relation to VAT, the last resort provider to strengthen the wording around costs to emphasise the importance of local commissioning and understanding regional variations, and to highlight that different authorities use Scotland Excel contracts to varying degrees as a result of this local variance; and
(b) That it be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Convener, to approve and submit the amended consultation response to the Scottish Government.